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Old 15th August 2015, 07:59 PM   #361
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Originally Posted by Kid Eager View Post
Whut??????? "I don't understand mathematics, therefore afterlife?"

This is a very strange form of special pleading at work. You appear to have concluded that poisoning the well on mathematics invalidates any science that uses numbers.

Hang on a second, though... That does NOT create evidence in favor of your assertions, particularly if those assertions use numbers anywhere...
That's true Eager, but I'm simply stating that science doesn't provide evidence for the lack of existence of an after life
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Old 15th August 2015, 08:45 PM   #362
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
That's true Eager, but I'm simply stating that science doesn't provide evidence for the lack of existence of an after life
Why would you think that science should provide evidence for an after life?
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Old 15th August 2015, 08:52 PM   #363
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hold on, I'm thinking.
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Old 15th August 2015, 09:02 PM   #364
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All I've said about a whole divided into thirds and pi is that it isn't representative of the reality that we see. It indicates an infinite amount even though we apply them to concrete volumes. What I've said about the mathematical theories applied to light is also true, it doesn't adequately represent our experience of light.

Okay, now I'm getting in over my head with the mathematics so I'm open for correction but here goes: Try taking Godel's theorems of incompleteness as applied to human intelligence and extrapolate that to the near death experience. If the human mind is equivalent to a Turing Machine, which is finite, and if that analogy is consistent, then Godel's theorems of incompleteness would apply to the near death experience since it is a result of human intelligence. Therefore the existence of human intelligence existing after death is essentially undecidable using any kind of science based on mathematics ergo you can't use NDE research as evidence that there is no life after death.

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Old 15th August 2015, 09:03 PM   #365
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Originally Posted by tsig View Post
Why would you think that science should provide evidence for an after life?
Why would anyone think that it indicates that life after death doesn't exist?
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Old 15th August 2015, 09:13 PM   #366
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
All I've said about a whole divided into thirds and pi is that it isn't representative of the reality that we see. It indicates an infinite amount even though we apply them to concrete volumes. What I've said about the mathematical theories applied to light is also true, it doesn't adequately represent our experience of light.

Okay, now I'm getting in over my head with the mathematics so I'm open for correction but here goes: Try taking Goebel's theorems of incompleteness as applied to human intelligence and extrapolate that to the near death experience. If the human mind is equivalent to a Turing Machine, which is finite, and if that analogy is consistent, then Geobel's theorems of incompleteness would apply to the near death experience since it is a result of human intelligence. Therefore the existence of human intelligence existing after death is essentially undecidable using any kind of science based on mathematics ergo you can't use NDE research as evidence that there is no life after death.
The world is messy unlike the world of ideal forms described by mathematics. There are no perfect circles nor objects cut into equal thirds. This however doesn't stop us using mathematics as an essential tool in predicting the world.

While you take a forward step in admitting being out of depth why do you name drop concepts like Godels incompleteness theorems with zero argument for relevance?
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Old 15th August 2015, 09:18 PM   #367
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
That's true Eager, but I'm simply stating that science doesn't provide evidence for the lack of existence of an after life
Nor does it need to. The use of science has allowed us to establish that claims of an afterlife via NDEs is not supported by the evidence.

ETA - I was about to comment on your unintentional Godwinning of the thread, but you spoiled it by correcting the name of the person. So disappoint....
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Old 15th August 2015, 09:56 PM   #368
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Originally Posted by Sideroxylon View Post
The world is messy unlike the world of ideal forms described by mathematics. There are no perfect circles nor objects cut into equal thirds. This however doesn't stop us using mathematics as an essential tool in predicting the world.

While you take a forward step in admitting being out of depth why do you name drop concepts like Godels incompleteness theorems with zero argument for relevance?
I felt it was relevant. We haven't succeeded in building AI equivalent to human intelligence because mathematical computations really can't be applied to human intelligence. If a near death experience is the result of human intelligence then nothing could be inferred from that to indicate that death is the end.
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Old 15th August 2015, 10:01 PM   #369
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Originally Posted by Kid Eager View Post
Nor does it need to. The use of science has allowed us to establish that claims of an afterlife via NDEs is not supported by the evidence.

ETA - I was about to comment on your unintentional Godwinning of the thread, but you spoiled it by correcting the name of the person. So disappoint....
I know, I sublimated one of my favorite shopping sites for a math philosopher, go figure.

http://www.goebel.de/en/
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Old 15th August 2015, 10:21 PM   #370
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I felt it was relevant. We haven't succeeded in building AI equivalent to human intelligence because mathematical computations really can't be applied to human intelligence. If a near death experience is the result of human intelligence then nothing could be inferred from that to indicate that death is the end.
Are we behind schedule on building a replication of human intelligence?
How do you know mathematical computations cannot be applied to human intelligence?

Granted if NDEs can be explained without resorting to the afterlife, death may not be the end. This is true of any number of unfalsified ideas we might come up with.

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Old 15th August 2015, 10:28 PM   #371
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There have been a lot of interesting philosophical arguments to certain approaches to replicating human consciousness, as well as understandings of human thought and rationality, but these don't seem to be the avenues popularly explored today.

You seem to be alluding to arguments like these:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hube...l_intelligence

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Old 16th August 2015, 12:22 AM   #372
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
.. because mathematical computations really can't be applied to human intelligence.
Because Gödel, something. This means our minds are beyond math or any computation.

I'm sold.

Tell me more.

Quote:
If a near death experience is the result of human intelligence then nothing could be inferred from that to indicate that death is the end.
For that matter, nothing can be anything as hume intelligence is all over the place, a carpet after a cocktail party.

What I'm getting from your posts is that math can't count properly, it's out.

Clever math heavy Godel incompleteness theorems don't complete; they used math, so, duh!

Ergo we are not alive at all...
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Old 16th August 2015, 01:53 AM   #373
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
Mathematics is a convenient way to describe reality, in this example it's light, and you can pick and choose which theory you want to use to demonstrate that reality, that's cherry picking is it not?

No, it isn't, it is using an appropriate model to best explain the results, not choosing only those results that fit a particular model. Nether light as particles nor light as waves is put forward by science as "demonstrating reality". You are arguing against a strawman. Light exhibits wave-particle duality; there are no alternative theories to be chosen here.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:08 AM   #374
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I don't, but the evidence suggested by near death studies is not indicative that there is no life after death. It describes the process of the dying brain.
A more noticeable aspect of such studies is the lack of proper indication of life after death.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:09 AM   #375
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
If the math behind the science is imperfect then the conclusion based on the data can't be definite.
This does not remedy the lack of valid data for survival of consciousness.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:12 AM   #376
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
That's true Eager, but I'm simply stating that science doesn't provide evidence for the lack of existence of an after life
Howevert, there is an utter lack of valid data to show that there is survival of consciousness.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:15 AM   #377
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
... you can't use NDE research as evidence that there is no life after death.
You mean, there are problems wit proving a negative?
That's nothing new.

The bigger problem for you is that the NDE research can not be used to show valid indication for the survival of consciousness.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:16 AM   #378
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
That's true Eager, but I'm simply stating that science doesn't provide evidence for the lack of existence of an after life

It doesn't need to. You don't get to reverse the burden of proof.
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:18 AM   #379
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
Why would anyone think that it indicates that life after death doesn't exist?
Hilite by Daylightstar

Not that it, it's the persistent lack of valid data for the survival of consciousness
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Old 16th August 2015, 03:24 AM   #380
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Originally Posted by Mojo View Post
... You don't get to reverse the burden of proof.
Exactly.
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Old 16th August 2015, 04:15 AM   #381
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When measuring in ṫrollströms, reversing the proof burden is a natural consequence. Doupleplusundeath is a few ṫrolls from the skull.
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Old 16th August 2015, 08:41 AM   #382
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Originally Posted by Donn View Post
When measuring in ṫrollströms, reversing the proof burden is a natural consequence. Doupleplusundeath is a few ṫrolls from the skull.
Who really has the beast of burden of proof?
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Old 16th August 2015, 09:29 AM   #383
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Originally Posted by tsig View Post
Who really has the beast of burden of proof?
The burden of pray!

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Old 16th August 2015, 11:34 AM   #384
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Ironically it is the math that typically matches the reality, as shown by actual experiment and it is the human perception that is often incorrect and does not match the reality. Humans typically don't have an intuitive understanding of relativistic effects, yet GPS confirms that it is the prediction of the math, not the human expectation, that is correct and matches reality in this case. Same for the dual nature of light: it is not that the math fails to explain it, but that we have trouble intuitively understanding it. Again, it is the math that matches the reality as confirmed by experiments. Our perception is incorrect.

I can only reinforce what others here have said: the generating of a repeating string when dividing 1 by 3 is only a problem of the nomenclature, not the math itself. 1/3 is a perfectly acceptable mathematical notation for the precise answer to this division: if you wish instead to express it as a decimal, you must write a bar over the last digit of .3 to use this decimal nomenclature accurately, but it doesn't make either the math itself or the nomenclature incorrect. Different nomenclatures use the same math, but some are more useful than others for given purposes. Fractions for example are easier to write than certain decimals, but harder to use in accounting legers. The nomenclature is just a series of symbols; they are not truly the mathematical concepts that they are meant to indicate.
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Old 16th August 2015, 11:42 AM   #385
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Back to the main focus of this thread: of course there are many things yet to be discovered! But there are many, many more things that will never be discovered simply because they do not exist. There is a massive amount of evidence against a concept of an afterlife, and no convincing evidence for it. So although one may wish, in principal, to not completely rule out the possibility, it is so very low as to not be worthwhile considering until there is good evidence for an afterlife. At that time I will re-consider my opinion. Until then, the concept appears to have no more evidence than there being a unicorn in my attic, and I have no more reason to consider an afterlife than to consider feeding my unicorn.
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Old 17th August 2015, 01:52 PM   #386
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Originally Posted by Giordano View Post
Ironically it is the math that typically matches the reality, as shown by actual experiment and it is the human perception that is often incorrect and does not match the reality. Humans typically don't have an intuitive understanding of relativistic effects, yet GPS confirms that it is the prediction of the math, not the human expectation, that is correct and matches reality in this case. Same for the dual nature of light: it is not that the math fails to explain it, but that we have trouble intuitively understanding it. Again, it is the math that matches the reality as confirmed by experiments. Our perception is incorrect.

I can only reinforce what others here have said: the generating of a repeating string when dividing 1 by 3 is only a problem of the nomenclature, not the math itself. 1/3 is a perfectly acceptable mathematical notation for the precise answer to this division: if you wish instead to express it as a decimal, you must write a bar over the last digit of .3 to use this decimal nomenclature accurately, but it doesn't make either the math itself or the nomenclature incorrect. Different nomenclatures use the same math, but some are more useful than others for given purposes. Fractions for example are easier to write than certain decimals, but harder to use in accounting legers. The nomenclature is just a series of symbols; they are not truly the mathematical concepts that they are meant to indicate.
That was all that needed to be said.
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Old 17th August 2015, 01:54 PM   #387
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Originally Posted by Giordano View Post
Back to the main focus of this thread: of course there are many things yet to be discovered! But there are many, many more things that will never be discovered simply because they do not exist. There is a massive amount of evidence against a concept of an afterlife, and no convincing evidence for it. So although one may wish, in principal, to not completely rule out the possibility, it is so very low as to not be worthwhile considering until there is good evidence for an afterlife. At that time I will re-consider my opinion. Until then, the concept appears to have no more evidence than there being a unicorn in my attic, and I have no more reason to consider an afterlife than to consider feeding my unicorn.
I don't see how the research for near death experiences can indicate that an after life doesn't exist. If our perceptions are limited, then what people claim to be seeing would simply be a brain function. How would that be evidence that an after life didn't exist? If there is other evidence than these particular studies, I'm not aware of it.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:21 PM   #388
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I don't see how the research for near death experiences can indicate that an after life doesn't exist. ...
For instance by consistently being unable to gather data which supports the existence of an afterlife.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:23 PM   #389
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If there is no data available how can you say there isn't? It works both ways, does it not? It's a matter of belief regardless.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:30 PM   #390
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If data on such would have been available, surely this would have been made known publicly.
It would be quite an incentive for funding further research considering public interest could be enormous.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:38 PM   #391
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Non available data, or evidence, doesn't mean it's not there. If you want to believe no after life exists based on the lack of evidence so far then I'm fine with that. It's an equally biased statement based on the keyword "believe". I think it will be a very long time before we get there since we can't replicate how the mind works, assuming that has anything at all to do with what part of us might continue after we die.

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Old 17th August 2015, 03:43 PM   #392
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
Non available data, or evidence, doesn't mean it's not there. ...
Not "Non available data" but no data available.

Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
... doesn't mean it's not there. ...
Where could this data be?
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:46 PM   #393
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Certainly. And if you want to believe there's no leprechaun hiding in your house, you're free to remain close-minded. I mean, it's just as biased as believing there is.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:47 PM   #394
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I don't see how the research for near death experiences can indicate that an after life doesn't exist. If our perceptions are limited, then what people claim to be seeing would simply be a brain function. How would that be evidence that an after life didn't exist? If there is other evidence than these particular studies, I'm not aware of it.
This is, in a round-about way, my point. If we presume that life after death can not be detected using our instruments and sensors, then it is much like the situation with my attic, which I have not checked for unicorns for many months. Either an afterlife or a unicorn in my attic could exist, both being beyond my ability to deduce based on what I already know right now. But there is no reason to assume that either exists. The existence of either requires special pleading (they exist, but you can't detect them because they happen to have properties that are special and unlike all the other things that you do know exist in the world). Are they possible in theory- sure. But are they likely enough to be worth considering? I'd say no.

I would also point out that fundamental to the proposal that there is an afterlife is the concept that somehow our consciousness is separable and distinct from the physical and chemical function of the brain. Another example of special pleading. No one proposes that the functions of our kidnys somehow out live us and continue after the kidneys themselves die. Same with our hearts, or livers, or our muscles. When these organs are dead, people accept that the functions of these organs while alive also stop on death. But somehow, some people would like to believe that our brain function, our minds, will outlive our brains. I see no reason to believe that.
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Old 17th August 2015, 03:59 PM   #395
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Originally Posted by Daylightstar View Post
Not "Non available data" but no data available.


Where could this data be?
I'm assuming belief is the drive to ask the question in the first place. The data is non available if you are looking in the wrong place. Can you find a television show in a broken television? If I knew where to look for the data I certainly wouldn't be here debating the question.
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Old 17th August 2015, 04:03 PM   #396
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Originally Posted by Giordano View Post
This is, in a round-about way, my point. If we presume that life after death can not be detected using our instruments and sensors, then it is much like the situation with my attic, which I have not checked for unicorns for many months. Either an afterlife or a unicorn in my attic could exist, both being beyond my ability to deduce based on what I already know right now. But there is no reason to assume that either exists. The existence of either requires special pleading (they exist, but you can't detect them because they happen to have properties that are special and unlike all the other things that you do know exist in the world). Are they possible in theory- sure. But are they likely enough to be worth considering? I'd say no.

I would also point out that fundamental to the proposal that there is an afterlife is the concept that somehow our consciousness is separable and distinct from the physical and chemical function of the brain. Another example of special pleading. No one proposes that the functions of our kidnys somehow out live us and continue after the kidneys themselves die. Same with our hearts, or livers, or our muscles. When these organs are dead, people accept that the functions of these organs while alive also stop on death. But somehow, some people would like to believe that our brain function, our minds, will outlive our brains. I see no reason to believe that.
Neither do I, but I don't think we stop being when we die.
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Old 17th August 2015, 04:15 PM   #397
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I'm assuming belief is the drive to ask the question in the first place. The data is non available if you are looking in the wrong place. Can you find a television show in a broken television? If I knew where to look for the data I certainly wouldn't be here debating the question.
Your TV example already assumes TV shows.
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Old 17th August 2015, 04:19 PM   #398
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LOLOL...you're not wrong there.
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Old 17th August 2015, 04:27 PM   #399
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I'm assuming belief is the drive to ask the question in the first place. The data is non available if you are looking in the wrong place. Can you find a television show in a broken television? If I knew where to look for the data I certainly wouldn't be here debating the question.
On what basis would you then believe there is an afterlife?
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Old 17th August 2015, 04:28 PM   #400
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Originally Posted by Sideroxylon View Post
Your TV example already assumes TV shows.
Quite right.
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